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“Well, shit,” Eddie says. Fat wet drops of rain are starting to come down through the thick trees of the forest.
He curses himself again for not double-checking his tent before leaving, not catching the entire top seam that’s fraying and dotted with pinpoint holes. It’s perfectly serviceable for dry weather, but the weather forecast is currently proving to be bullshit, the ground getting steadily wetter around him by the second.
“What’s taking you so long to pitch a tent?” Buck asks, barely holding back the smirk on his face as he emerges from his own one-person tent and inspects the useless nylon in Eddie’s hands.
“Well, shit.”
Eddie can’t help but laugh, grin twisting into a grimace as thunder shakes the trees around them.
“Guess we’re bunking together,” Buck shrugs, taking the tent from Eddie’s cold hands and wrapping it back up into its bag before resting it against the tree. “Get in there before you get soaked, man.”
Eddie shakes himself from the frozen moment and grabs his still mostly-dry sleeping bag and dashes for the tent, Buck hot on his heels as the rain picks up.
“It wasn’t supposed to rain,” Eddie grumbles as Buck zips up the tent securely.
“At least we have one dry tent,” Buck says, shrugging easily, unbothered.
He has to crouch to avoid hitting the top of the tent, and quickly settles down on the sleeping bag that he drags as far to one side of the small space as he can.
Eddie looks around, realizing he could practically touch each side of the tent with his arms if he stood in the middle. He’s used to being close to Buck, but this is pushing the levels of comfortable.
“Good thing Chris refused to camp with us, after all,” Eddie says as he kicks off his boots and shoves them into a corner before unzipping his sleeping bag and sitting inside it.
“I bet Hen and Karen are letting him stay up way too late eating junk food and playing video games,” Buck says, wistfully. “What time is it, anyway?”
“Almost nine,” Eddie laughs, looking down at his waterproof watch. “It’s not even Chris’ actual bedtime yet.”
“Feels later,” Buck yawns, looking up at the raindrops beating down on the tent relentlessly.
“We did swim for hours,” Eddie says. “Before the sky decided to open up.”
“At least we ate already,” Buck offers. “Rain won’t stop animals from sniffing out food if we left it out.”
“There is that,” Eddie begrudgingly agrees. “I wanted to make s’mores though.”
“You’re worse than Chris,” Buck laughs.
“That doesn’t sound very supportive of my journey to find joy,” Eddie snarks back. “I will absolutely rat you out to Father Brian.”
“I’m not afraid of a priest,” Buck scoffs playfully. “I’m not Catholic, they have no power over me.”
“You’d never expect it,” Eddie teases a warning, “that’s how they get ya.”
“What’s the opposite of holy water?” Buck muses, “I’ll have to get some of that to ward the Church off.”
“Uh,” Eddie thinks, “hellfire?”
Buck wrinkles his nose. “They probably don’t sell that at Whole Foods.”
“There would definitely be import fees,” Eddie agrees wryly.
Buck grins, always so pleased when Eddie plays along, a fact that he couldn’t hide if he tried.
“Go to sleep, Firestarter,” Eddie says, wiggling down into his own sleeping bag and curling up, grateful for the built in pillow.
He’s asleep before he can see if Buck listens or not.
Daylight wakes Eddie up with what sounds like an explosion, and he has to take several deep breaths until he can convince his racing heart to calm down. Peering up at the roof of the tent, he sees it’s still the middle of the night, thunder and lightning waking him instead of sunlight.
“Fuck,” he mutters to himself, turning to check on Buck, only to meet his wide shiny eyes, barely visible in the dark tent.
“Hey,” Buck whispers. “You ok?”
“Just startled me,” Eddie says, now that his breathing has returned to normal. “Are you ok?”
Eddie sees it in Buck’s face before he’s even said it; the automatic dismissal of his own feelings, the years of shoving everything deep down into the dark.
“We don’t lie to each other,” Eddie reminds him gently. “You pinky-promised. Pretty sure you Buckleys consider that a legally binding agreement.”
Buck laughs wetly, and nods. “Damn right, it is.”
“So tell me the truth,” Eddie says, reaching out across the cramped space and clasping a hand around Buck’s shoulder. “Are you ok?”
Buck shakes his head, swallowing around a tight throat and curling up until his knees are practically flush to his chest.
“I’m freaking terrified,” he admits, voice soft like he’s still half-expecting to be punished for using it.
Eddie’s heart breaks for him, both for his best friend and for the scared little kid he knows still lives in Buck’s chest.
“Come here,” Eddie says instead of voicing his wishes to cut the Buckley parent’s brake lines.
Buck freezes for a moment, giving Eddie a cautious look. They’re closer than most best friends, but they’ve never just straight up cuddled before.
“No funny business,” Eddie laughs quietly, holding out his arms with a flourish. “Just come let me protect you, alright?”
Buck hesitates another moment, before the tent illuminates a shocking white again, followed by the ground beneath them rumbling. Losing any reservations, he scrambles over into Eddie’s unzipped sleeping bag and open arms.
“You’ll be cold,” Eddie says against Buck’s hair as he practically melds himself into Eddie’s neck.
Buck reaches back with one arm and grabs his discarded sleeping bag and tucks it over himself, all without opening his eyes.
“Good enough,” Eddie says.
“Thank you,” Buck puffs against Eddie’s skin, and maybe it should be weird, but all Eddie feels is an overwhelming sense that nothing has ever felt so right.
“Don’t mention it,” Eddie says, squeezing him reassuringly. “Go back to sleep, I’ve got you.”
To his surprise, Buck just squeezes back and does what he’s told.
By the time the actual sun rises, Eddie has a crick in his neck and he’s pretty sure his left arm is completely numb, but he feels surprisingly refreshed. Buck is still asleep, head pillowed on Eddie’s numb arm and one of his own arms slung snugly across Eddie’s chest. His hand is curled around Eddie’s rib cage, and Eddie has to force a breath around the sudden rush of blood in his ears as he thinks about how perfectly he fits in Buck’s hold.
“Too early,” Buck mumbles as he wakes up slightly. “Five more minutes.”
“We have hours,” Eddie whispers. “The sun just came up.”
“No more storm?” Buck asks, eyes still firmly closed and his hand idly tracing Eddie’s ribs through his t-shirt.
“No more storm,” Eddie concurs, reaching up with his free hand before he can stop himself and ruffling Buck’s humidity-puffed curls.
“Good,” Buck says sleepily, tucking his head back against Eddie’s throat for a moment before tensing up as he remembers their current arrangement.
“Relax,” Eddie says, locking his arms as Buck goes to move away. “You’re fine where you are.”
Buck sags back against him, smiling against Eddie’s skin.
“Rethinking the no funny business thing?” he teases.
“Maybe,” Eddie says, flushing warm at even the thought of it all.
“Good,” Buck says, before tilting his head up and pressing a short but firm kiss against Eddie’s surprised lips. “I love laughing with you.”
“Yeah, well. I’d hug you right now,” Eddie laughs, “but pretty sure my arm is dead.”
Buck cringes in sympathy, before untangling himself from Eddie’s hold and pulling away.
“I didn’t want you to move,” Eddie says, watching with confusion as Buck just stretches out on his back beside him.
“Your turn to be the teddy bear,” Buck grins, holding out his arms until Eddie finally takes the hint and shuffles around until he’s resting against Buck’s chest, surrounded by his warm arms.
“This is pretty nice,” Eddie admits after a few minutes. Buck is idly playing with his hair with one hand and tracing patterns into his back with the other. “I’ve never.. I mean. Nobody’s ever held me like this.”
“Like what?” Buck asks, his voice rumbling comfortingly where Eddie feels it through his chest.
“Just to hold me,” Eddie says quietly, closing his eyes so he doesn’t have to see the imagined pity in Buck’s.
“Yeah, well,” Buck says firmly. “They’re all idiots, obviously. I’ll hold you every day if you want.”
“Yeah?” Eddie asks, pressing a kiss into the cotton above Buck’s heart. “You promise?”
Buck grins and hooks one calf over Eddie’s knee, holding him together with ease.
“Pinky-promise.”
The End